[Anchor]

Social media's influence has grown to the point where we can truly call this the golden age of social networking services. Recently, local governments, including Inje County, are drawing attention by actively utilizing social media for public relations and communication.

Kim Yi-gon from G1 Broadcasting has the report.

[Reporter]

This is the official YouTube channel for Inje County.

From policies providing 5 million won in college scholarships,

[Giving such a large amount really is typical of Inje.]

It is packed with promotional videos playing on the wordplay of Inje's "Sinnam" district.

[You know how "Inje Sinnam" is trending like crazy, right?]

In particular, contents leveraging the "Inje Sinnam" (meaning "Inje is exciting" or referring to the Sinnam area) place name have gained enthusiastic responses on social media, becoming a hit among local commercial districts and streets.

[Kim Jong-keun / Chief of Public Relations, Inje County Office: Looking at merchandise sales and the increase rate of tourists, we could clearly see that thanks to these promotional efforts, more people are taking an interest in Inje and visiting.]

As the effects of social media marketing translating into actual regional visits and spending are confirmed, Inje County is expanding related projects.

It holds social media competency-building training for employees and collaborates with popular YouTubers to produce videos detailing major policy information.

Other local governments are also staking their all on social media.

The official Instagram subscriber count for Gangwon State has surpassed 47,000, and cities and counties are forming dedicated teams to produce their own content.

The objective is to mobilize all available resources to promote regions and policies.

[Jeon Young-jae / Adjunct Professor, Media School at Hallym University: It serves as an excellent promotional tool that makes tourists want to visit the region. Since the younger generation these days loves short-form videos, I think there is a need to actively utilize such formats.]

As social media firmly establishes itself as a core public relations tool for local governments, content competition among municipalities to attract even one more tourist is growing increasingly fierce.

(Video reporting: Park Jong-hyun / G1, Source material: YouTube channels of Inje County and Kim Seon-tae)

Kim Yi-gon, G1